


A Picture That Lasts Years

by Guess_Im_Me



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: F/F, F/M, I'll update tags as I go, Language, M/M, Other, but the reader is kinda heavily based on me, genji is cute then a lil shit then cute and the cycle kinda coninues, hanzo and mccree won't be until later but trust me i'll get to it, i don't really know what this is gonna contain yet, maybe some homophobia from sojiro, or at least gender-neutral or something, the reader in non-binary
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-23
Updated: 2019-04-23
Packaged: 2020-01-24 10:37:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,249
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18569704
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Guess_Im_Me/pseuds/Guess_Im_Me
Summary: They arrive in Hanamura as an exchange student when they run into a certain green-haired someone, sitting under the cherry blossom tree.High school ensues with feelings running rampant, rumors flying about, and you know what? Let's add some knives in the mix.





	A Picture That Lasts Years

**Author's Note:**

> SO i guess here's the beginning of my fic. i'll try to finish it and overwatch is a fandom that keeps sucking me in, for the third time now. i don't know where it'll go but it just keeps coming and i'll keep supplying. also sorry if there are any grammar mistakes, i'm tired as shit right now.

The delicate pink flowers were in full bloom above their head as it bobbed up and down to the rhythm of their walk. Looking around at the golden-lit street, they took in the rare sight with a sense of awe and grateful relief. The foreign exchange student program they partook in had moved the departure from America a week earlier than it had been originally scheduled due to discounted plane tickets. Because of this, they had arrived in Hanamura just in time to witness the revered season of the cherry blossoms. It had been a bit of a scramble, but they had managed to pull themselves together with not a moment to spare. 

They strolled down the gently bustling streets, eyes hungrily taking in anything they could. The glowing neon signs flickering on as the day grew dark, the graceful architecture spanning street to street, hell, even the cars looked like works of art in the setting sun.

The blue-cased phone in their hand tore them away from the environment around them with a quiet beeping, notifying them that a wrong turn had been took. Laughing quietly to themselves, they corrected their path with a small, “Oops.” 

Making sure that the route was the right one, they continued through the city, passing an arcade, which was clearly the place to be here as it was buzzing with life, vibrant artificial lights streaming from the open doorway and the sound of people talking and laughing was loud enough to reach the entire street. It was not an unpleasant sound though, a soothing reminder that no matter where in the world you go, people love video games. 

Across the street was a ramen joint with an almost comical green monster-like creature on the side of the building. A sign underneath read, in English, ‘Rikimaru.’ It looked like a nice place to stop for a bite, friendly and not too pricey or posh. They made a mental note of that.

After a few more seconds of walking down the road, sharp pang shot through the constant dull ache in their shoulders, shaking them from the sort of half-trance of pure bliss as their back screamed at them to take a break, lie down, do the sit, whatever to relieve it of this godforsaken backpack. Thankfully a bench sat less than five feet from them and the prospect of relaxing their sore muscles was too strong to resist. The bus could only take them so far.

They slung their heavy pack off and plopped it at the base of the bench, sliding their suitcase next to it. The wheels loudly protested, they weren’t meant to move that way, but their legs were too tired for the student to care. They sat down, rubbing their shoulders with a grimace. Thankfully their backpack would be lighter after today, as the essentials that they had packed still weighed pretty damn heavy as they trekked the city. Checking their phone, they groaned as they saw that it had been run down to sixteen percent. That direction app really drained the battery. There was a text from their parents wishing them good luck in Japan for their six-month stay that had come in not five minutes after the plane had landed, making sure that pictures were going to be sent home. 

Setting their phone aside, they bent over to rummage in one of the small pouches of their black backpack that had been deemed ‘for electronics.’ A few cords had to be untangled and the earbuds had basically worked themselves into a knot but they eventually emerged from the lair of the Kraken with a cylindrical portable charger. They plugged it in to the port on their phone and a notification popped up. They hit ‘allow’ and their phone began to regain some of its life.

The light was fading fast but there were still some opportunities for snapping some of the beautiful town. Their parents had made such a big deal out of it that they weren’t likely to forget to capture some of their moments anytime soon.

Despite having little to no professional experience, they prided themselves on being an adequately skilled photographer, and had taken a few classes on the subject in the past. They preferred abstract, natural pictures that, when they even included them, used people as part of the environment. This was the opposite of their mother, who took photos of specifically people. It got kind of annoying sometimes, but their mother did take some pretty good portraits.

Standing up from the bench, their legs silently croaking in protest, they needed rest, they walked over to one of the sakura trees lining the road, looking for the best angle to capture the essence of this environment and what would be the most aesthetically pleasing.

They decided on a strange position. They were lying down, half in the planter and half on the actually surprisingly clean sidewalk and looked up at the baby pink blossoms from the ground, the dark, chocolaty brown bark focused and in the foreground with a sea of pink and steadily deepening orangey-blue with a few buildings visible at the edges as the unfocused background. Some of the passerby snickered softly at their odd position, but they just gave a smile and small wave and went back to being focused on the screen of their phone. 

They were not half-bad, the shots that they were capturing. They were pleasant and a sense of serenity seemed to emulate from them. The small charger supplying their phone with power was dangling in their face and became a slight nuisance as they tried to focus on keeping their hands steady. They clicked the button to take a picture a few times and sat up, shifting their position so that they could sit against the trunk of their subject. They were pleasantly satisfied, scrolling through the photos they had taken when they noticed something in the corner of the frame of the most recent one. It was blurry but very clearly bright green. They zoomed in on said green blob and came to the conclusion that it must have been just a passing leaf. 

“Must be some good pictures if you were laying down.”

Ah. Not a leaf.

They looked up. The green they had seen before was his hair, sorta fluffy and sticking up from his head. He looked about the same age as them, give or take. He was smiling at them, a look that was somehow both innocent and mischievous. Teachers probably were wary around him, not knowing what he would do next. However, he didn’t look like he would do anyone serious harm, so they weren’t too worried. 

“Mind if I take a look?” he asked, kneeling down beside them, not too close to warrant a smack but closer than a normal person would go. His voice was heavily accented but he spoke in perfect English, for which they were thankful for. Their Japanese was extremely fragmented and they doubted they could hold a decent conversation to save their life.

They shrugged and handed the phone to him with a, “Sure,” sightly wary at the prospect of handing one of their most valued possessions to a complete stranger. He took the phone gently, swiping through the photos they took, expression unreadable. Even though they had barely met, they felt themselves dreading a negative judgement of this strange green-haired boy. I don’t even know his name yet, why am I so concerned about his opinion? Much to their relief, they didn’t have to wait long.

“These are amazing!” He looked up and back at them, his eyes wide in awe. 

“They are?” They were stunned. They weren’t that good, really, but he seemed to find them extremely beautiful. 

“Of course! These look professional, even,” he remarked, handing them back their phone. They accepted it with a grin and a warm, bubbly feeling began to sink into their stomach. “I do apologize for stepping into the shot, I just couldn’t help myself. You looked so strange I had to get a closer look.” He ended with a small chuckle, playful but well-meaning. 

“No, it’s nothing! I can just crop it, it’s- hey, whaddya mean strange?” 

“Well, you were laying down in the middle of the sidewalk with your phone in front of your face. Not the most normal sight,” he teased. “But now I can see all of it was worth it.”

'Is he- is he flirting with me?' they thought, cheeks flushing a little but. 

They had to admit, they would be flattered if he was. He was definitely good-looking, and from what they could see underneath his pink sweater, he was in peak condition. Smelled nice, too. Kinda like incense and a nice fabric softener, with a little twinge of metal or something else along those lines.

It was a foreign feeling, something that they weren’t used to in all their seventeen years of life. But it was a nice something to think about nevertheless.

“Y-yeah, uh, thanks. My parents back home require me to take a bunch of photos to send home to them whenever I’m abroad so I just figured I’d take a break from walking to shoot some,” they said, the boy sitting next to them nodding. 

“You’re from America, no?” he questioned. They nodded with a laugh.

“Is it that obvious?” 

“Yes, kinda,” the green-haired boy chuckled. They both giggled.

It was nice.

After they had calmed down a bit, they decided him trustworthy enough. “Yeah, I’m from California. Los Angeles, specifically. I go on a lot of exchange student things ‘cause I love seeing the world and, frankly, my parents can actually afford it. That’s why I’m here, actually.”

“Well, I am glad you are.”

'There it is again. Strange.' 

“Well, as long as we’re at it, could you and I take a picture for them? Y’know, to show them that I’m not completely along in this strange new world?” they asked, a small smile spreading across their face and a playful tone in their voice. 

“Hell yeah!” he agreed, and shifted so that he was sitting next to them for an easier shot. Flipping the camera, they lifted their phone for a selfie with the green-haired boy, the charger still hanging from the port. He posed with a smile, throwing up a peace sign as they tapped the button with their thumb. They both relaxed as they let the phone down. It was a nice picture, the golden light almost a blue now, the neon signs lighting up one side of their faces. Both were genuinely smiling. 

It was the first time in a while that they had done that.

“Well, I should probably get going. I have a family that’s expecting me and I don’t want to keep them waiting,” they sighed, hauling themselves up from their position and walking back to their bags on the bench. Thankfully nothing had been stolen, as they had been so engrossed in the conversation they had been having they wouldn’t have noticed if someone had run off with their things. They grabbed one strap of their backpack and swung it so the momentum would leave it right on their shoulder. It would have been nearly impossible to carry any other way it was so weighed down.

“Aw, alright,” he said, standing up with unexpectedly almost a catlike grace. It was sort of mesmerizing, in a weird way. “But before you go, here.” 

He rolled up his left sleeve and held out a Sharpie, motioning to his forearm. They stood clueless, confused at the motion. 

“Huh?”

“You know…” He put his thumb and pinky out in a Shaka sort of gesture and held it at his ear, shaking it slightly. 

“Oh…” They nodded in understanding, a red blush blossoming across their cheeks like the flowers above them. “God, I’m so stupid sometimes. Of course!”

'He wants my fucking number?'

They took the Sharpie, uncapped it, and scrawled some messy digits on his skin, making sure not to take up too much space. His skin was smooth, something that they were jealous of. Middle school acne did not do them kindly. 

They straightened up, placed the black cap back on the pungent nib, and handed it back to the boy. He took it with a nod and placed it back into the pocket of his faded, ripped jeans. He thanked them, blew on the writing to make sure it was dry, and rolled his sleeve back down. 

“I trust I’ll see you in school next week?” he asked, tilting his head like a curious puppy. 

“You will, for sure. I just gotta get settled in the area and I’ll be all set to go,” they grinned, grasping the handle of their suitcase. “Bye!”

Giving a small salute, they turned around and walked away, headed in the direction of the family that expected them this evening. The bubbly feeling that had been low and subtle in their stomach now at their throat. This had never happened before, not with someone like this. Their head was spinning, racing thoughts ricocheting against their skull when-

“Excuse me, what’s your name?” 'Oh shit, names.'

They called back over their shoulder, “(Y/N) (L/N).”

They were met with a, “Thanks!” and the boy turned away, walking in the other direction. (Y/N) continued on their path when they smacked themself. 

“Wait, what’s your name?”

But the green hair was gone from sight.

**Author's Note:**

> ha ha, you think that genji'll stay this way? he's a playboy. what'll you expect?


End file.
